{"id":14792,"date":"2025-02-21T01:07:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T01:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792"},"modified":"2025-02-21T01:07:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T01:07:34","slug":"breaking-news-broncos-predicted-to-add-24-million-veteran-cb-to-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2191084899-e1740087842599.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2191084899-e1740087842599.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2191084899-e1740087842599.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2191084899-e1740087842599.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense\" width=\"780\" height=\"440\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Denver Broncos have 2 high level cornerbacks on their roster with NFL Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II and Riley Moss, who helped lead one of the league\u2019s best defenses in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>What they don\u2019t really have at the position is depth, which they might be able to obtain in free agency \u2014 USA Today\u2019s Jacob Camenker has Cincinnati Bengals veteran cornerback Mike Hilton tabbed as the perfect player to fill that spot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJa\u2019Quan McMillan is set to be a free agent in 2025,\u201d Camenker said. \u201cThe Broncos could bring him back, but they could also bring an experienced veteran like Hilton in to add another top performer to the team\u2019s high-quality defense. Hilton had six pressures playing the slot in 2024, good for the 11th-best in the NFL, and is a great run defender.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>From Undrafted to Decade Playing in NFL<\/h2>\n<p>Hilton was a star defensive back who played both safety and cornerback at Ole Miss and was an All-SEC pick in 2015 but his pre-draft measurables \u2014 5-foot-8 and 178 pounds \u2014 kept him off the draft boards of NFL teams.<\/p>\n<p>Hilton signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent and was cut by the Jaguars in the preseason then by the New England Patriots before spending the rest of the season with the Pittsburgh Steelers on the practice squad.<\/p>\n<p>Hilton became a key member of the Steelers\u2019 defense over the next 4 seasons, playing in 59 games with 20 starts and 7 interceptions. Hilton\u2019s career high 3 interceptions in 2020 in a contract year led to a 4-year, $24 million free agent contract with the Bengals, where he had 66 tackles, 8 TFL, 5 pass deflections, 2 interceptions and 1 interception return for a touchdown in 2021 as the Bengals made it to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n<p>In 4 seasons with the Bengals, Hilton has missed just 4 games and has 7 interceptions. He started a career high 13 games in 2023 and started 10 games in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>One thing Hilton does that\u2019s added value is that he\u2019s an effective rusher on corner blitzes \u2014 he has 11.5 career sacks including a career high 3.0 sacks in 2020 and 2.0 sacks in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Hilton had 73 tackles with 1 interception and 5 pass deflections and Spotrac has his current projected market value at a 3-year, $37 million contract \u2014 which seems high even for a veteran starter at his position and for a player about to turn 31 years old in March.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Broncos Have NFL\u2019s Elite Cornerback in His Prime<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/16797272.jpg?resize=788,591\" alt=\"Patrick Surtain II - Sportsnaut\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When Surtain was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year following the 2024 season, he was the first Denver player to do so since linebacker Randy Gradishar in 1978 and did so after one of the most dominant seasons for a cornerback in NFL history. Surtain, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, is already a 2-time NFL All-Pro and 3-time Pro Bowler through 4 NFL seasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPatrick Surtain II has allowed a passer rating of 39.1 when targeted this season,\u201d NFL on CBS\u00a0wrote on its official X account on December 24. \u201cA QB\u2019s passer rating would be higher if they threw it into the ground on each pass (39.6).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Broncos and general manager George Paton now look like geniuses after making sure to sign Surtain to a 4-year, $96 million contract extension before the season that keeps the 24-year-old with the team through the 2029 season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USA Today&#8217;s Jacob Camenker predicts the Denver Broncos will add free agent veteran cornerback Mike Hilton in free agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cincinnati-bengals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"USA Today&#039;s Jacob Camenker predicts the Denver Broncos will add free agent veteran cornerback Mike Hilton in free agency.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-21T01:07:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-pic-7.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792\",\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense - Breaking News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-pic-7.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-21T01:07:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-21T01:07:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-pic-7.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-pic-7.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking News\",\"description\":\"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\",\"name\":\"MrKen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrKen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense - Breaking News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense - Breaking News","og_description":"USA Today's Jacob Camenker predicts the Denver Broncos will add free agent veteran cornerback Mike Hilton in free agency.","og_url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792","og_site_name":"Breaking News","article_published_time":"2025-02-21T01:07:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-pic-7.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MrKen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrKen","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792","name":"BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense - Breaking News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-pic-7.png","datePublished":"2025-02-21T01:07:34+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-21T01:07:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-pic-7.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-pic-7.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=14792#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING NEWS: Broncos Predicted to Add $24 Million Veteran CB to Defense"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/","name":"Breaking News","description":"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15","name":"MrKen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrKen"},"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14794,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14792\/revisions\/14794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}